Friday, November 23rd, 2012 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. 800,000 visits last month
By Walter Broeckx
The FA has made their final verdict public on the allegations from Chelsea against referee Mark Clattenburg that he had used racist language against one of their players.
The FA has said that there is no proof that Clattenburg has said such a thing. As you all know I have been reviewing the refs in the Pl for a few seasons. So I think I can say that I rather know the refs a bit. I know their strong points and their weaknesses. I can tell how a ref will react to an incident and I notice when he changes his usual behaviour by now.
I know and I have seen that some refs are more friendly with English players than with foreign players. In a way this could be understood as they both speak the same language and that this is not always the case with foreign players. I’m not suggesting this is born out of racism but just well I can have more fun with someone who speaks my own language than with someone who doesn’t speak my mother language or only just.
I get more annoyed when refs laugh and joke with all players of one team and wave away the players from the other team. That is a behaviour I have seen on a few occasions from some refs and one that I really don’t like at all.
But back to Clattenburg and the now false accusations from Chelsea. First of all if Clattenburg would have said the sentence in question (shut up you monkey) he should have been thrown out of football. Football is a sport where all people, from all different continents should be treated in the same way by the ref.
Now the accusations have been declared as false I can say that I had a 99% certainty that the accusations were false. Now I can say it for the full 100%.
I can imagine that for Clattenburg this must have been a hell. I just know he is no racist and then to be accused of such a thing must be hard. Because we all know how it works. In a few months time people will maybe say: Clattenburg wasn’t he the racist ref?
And dumb as people are they will remember the accusations but not that he was cleared and found not guilty. When there is smoke there is a fire some people will argue. We all know how things work and if you want to bring harm to some one his reputation you accuse him of something and something will be remembered.
I know that I have said harsh words on some refs in the past when they made mistakes. But I always backed my words with the facts from a game or with the facts of more games and when patterns came above water I named them. So yes I have been hard on referees in the past and believe me I will continue to do so.
But this accusation was so ridiculous that it made me rather angry. By a coincidence the ref review of the Chelsea – Manchester United game was published this morning in the very early hours. You can read it on the referee decisions website. Clattenburg (but most and for all one of his assistants) made a mistake that changed the outcome of the game. Accusing him (and his assistant) of that is fine.
But uttering low accusations of being a racist is a (Stamford) bridge too far. Being falsely accused of something is one of the worst thing to happen. And certainly when it is word against word. Based on my reviews I can say that Clattenburg makes mistakes (all refs do) but that he is one of the most honest refs I have seen in my 3 years of reviewing. So putting an honest man his hobby, job and life at risk with false accusations is not something that can be forgotten lightly.
Therefore I find it very stupid of the FA not to take action against Chelsea. The FA says in their statement that they think the accusations were made in good faith. My ass. You don’t accuse someone of racism “in good faith”. You know the implications and if you cannot prove it you don’t put forward a formal complaint. This is character assassination from the part of Chelsea. They were unhappy with the ref and his decisions and wanted to hurt him. That is all.
By not punishing Chelsea the FA are opening the door to more such accusations. I remember once that one of our players said that the ref abused him racially during a game a few seasons ago. I will not call names because Arsenal didn’t took further action. Because of the fact that it would be a matter of word against word and no proof could be delivered. Arsenal left it like that. I think this was down to the fact that he knew the implications for the ref and the fact that it could turn in to a nasty case. Chelsea could and should have done the same thing.
The FA should have punished Chelsea for making a false accusation. Money is no issue for Chelsea so you can’t hurt them there. But points deduction would be a good example. Because not punishing Chelsea could bring other teams to the idea to try to destroy a ref. The ref made a mistake, you don’t like the final result…let’s accuse him of racism. Proof or no proof? You just say someone heard him saying it.. you know in “good faith” and the ref in question is just one step away from the end of his career.
We should stop this from happening. If you want to ban a ref, let it be for not doing a proper job and for making too many mistakes. Not based on false accusations.
But maybe we should be grateful to Chelsea for one thing. The PGMOL has apparently decided to record the voices of the refs and the assistant during the game. I hope they also record what the players call them during the game. And who knows maybe ban players for abusing the refs. That is the only good thing that comes to my mind from this. And maybe it will stop some players from abusing and swearing at the refs during games.
I hope the PGMOL will use the recordings and give them to the FA to punish players. And hell why not make them public? So they can hear what is said during games between players the ref and his assistants. You’d be amazed about the language that is used at times. Mostly by players.
So maybe from a bad and ugly case something good may come from it. If the FA and the PGMOL would use the recordings to punish foul mouthing players that would be a big step forward in stopping teams chasing down referees. We will chase the refs down for the mistakes against the rules and for the wrong calls on our website. Don’t worry about that. But let the players do the playing with the ball. And let the clubs not go down the route of making false accusations of racism against refs.
I do hope for the FA that letting Chelsea of the hook will not backfire against them and the refs in the future. Now was the time to set an example. A missed opportunity….
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